Udaipur - beyond the lake

Talking to an Indian miniature painting shopkeeper, it occurred to me that Udaipur might be the place to find watercolour paper, so I asked him. 'Yes madam' he said 'you can get it from Kapoor's stationary shop in Bapu Bazaar.' So I set off on a long trek through what seemed like an endless succession of bazaars, starting with the gold and silver bazaar. Square door openings led into shops only as wide as the door, where shop keeper and customer sat cross legged on white cushions on the floor either side of low glass cabinets. These narrow jewellery shops opened into the walls of the street, like holes in the wall, one after another, occasionally interspersed by equally tiny shops selling jewelled wedding turbans or brightly coloured fabrics. The gold and silver traders were buying and selling, weighing objects brought to them on old scales, using little brass weights. Further on the shopkeepers were trading in old jewellery: intricate gold plated necklaces, exquisite strings of old seed pearls, semiprecious stones and dusty old silver ornaments.

At some point the next bazaar began, a bazaar selling wedding saris and veils. Various other bazaars followed and then I came to a vegetable market, where women sat on the ground, wicker baskets of brightly coloured vegetables in front of them. More bazaas followed, selling everything from plastic buckets and cooking pots to batteries and spare parts. After a long time the tiny streets of the bazaar opened out into a main street, Bapu Bazaar, where I did, indeed find water colour paper.

On the way back I somehow found myself in different streets from the ones I had taken to reach Bapu Bazaar. I ended up near a clock tower where groups of Muslim men, dressed in white, wearing white skull caps, were gathered around, as very loud music blared out of some giant loudspeakers. They were celebrating Mohammed's birthday. Out of a narrow side street appeared a line of white horses, brilliantly caparisoned, with men and boys dressed in bright costumes sitting astride, two to each horse. In the middle of the line of horses a camel appeared, wearing a beautiful bright woven camel cloth, studded with jewels, its rider dressed in costume similar to that worn by the horse riders.